Baseball Isn’t Boring

The voting for the Major League All-Star teams kicks off Wednesday at noon Eastern, which leads us to some good All-Star conversation. Bradfo sits down with both Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo and Arizona pitcher Zac Gallen to talk about what it would mean if they could call themselves All-Stars when the teams are selected for this year's event in Seattle. It's an open and honest Baseball Isn't Boring on the Go!

It has been a wild start to the new week. You have the former first overall pick Royce Lewis homering in the year anniversary of blowing out his knee. You have the return of Liam Hendricks, the White Sox closer who took the mound after his battle with cancer. And you have Producer Evan with perhaps the most controversial power rankings he has rolled out to date.

Only five teams in major professional sports have comeback from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, four of them coming in the NHL and one in Major League Baseball. That one MLB occasion, of course, was the Red Sox' 2004 history-making team. Now the Celtics are on the brink of pulling it off, which led Red Sox manager Alex Cora to examine what it takes when coming back from such a series hole.

There are quite a few teams who have seemingly turned the corner into contention. The Orioles. The Pirates. The Marlins. And the Diamondbacks, who find themselves just 1 1/2 games behind the mighty Dodgers. Bradfo catches up with Arizona manager Torey Lovullo for a candid conversation regarding exactly how he has convinced his team that it can play with the big boy despite spending a fraction of the money. There is also some insight from Red Sox skipper Alex Cora as to what it takes for a team to come back from a huge playoff deficit, as the sports world is witnessing with the Celtics forcing a Game 7 in the NBA Eastern Conference's Finals. And to kick things off, we have a very unique Home Run Call of the Day.

Just about an hour after Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen wrapped up his save against the Diamondbacks, the Celtics punctuated their Game 6 win the NBA Eastern Conference Finals with one of the most implausible finishes in recent sports history. Jansen, one of the biggest basketball fans in baseball, joined Bradfo to digest the hoop history.

Joe Ryan continues to dominate start in and start out this year for the Twins. He is currently Top 10 in the MLB in nearly every statistical category for pitchers and is climbing with every start he makes. Therefore, we felt as though it was important to sit down with the man himself and discuss the origins of his climb from an underrated piece of the puzzle to a Cy Young contender.

We have had plenty of talk about the good and bad of the new rule changes in Major League Baseball throughout the first few months of the 2023 season. But most can agree there need to be some adjustments. So what are they? Bradfo turns to agent Scott Boras for his thoughts on exactly what needs to be altered after digesting this new world of new rules. As you can imagine, it is some pointed and passionate stuff.

Less than two months after making an Opening Day start for the Red Sox, Corey Kluber is being sent to the bullpen. But what the podcast wanted to highlight was how Kluber handled the situation with the media and his teammate, presenting a masterclass within the situation. It's worth listening to Kluber on the day his baseball existence was turned inside-out.

It is a fascinating conversation with the author of a fascinating book: "The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever". Bradfo sits down with Jack Curry to discuss the ins and outs of the author's best-seller, chronicling the birth of the project, the previously-untold stories and the case for that Yankees team to be called better than any other. Curry and his book doesn't disappoint.

It would have been unthinkable just a week or so ago, but here it is: Our own Courtney Finnicum is declaring that the red-hot White Sox are making the postseason. At the time of Courtney's proclamation with Bradfo, the White Sox sit at nine games under .500 but only 5 1/2 games out of first-place, having won eight of their last 11 games. It's a bold take, but one that has some merit.